June 10, 2014 - Longueuil, Quebec - Canadian Space Agency
Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Astronaut Jeremy Hansen has explored impact craters in the High Arctic and lived and trained in deep caves. He will now take part in the NEEMO 19 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) analogue mission set to begin September 7.
Jeremy will spend 7 days under 19 metres of water in extreme conditions that closely resemble a space environment. As well as testing exploration concepts, he will take part in spacewalk simulations, and will evaluate tools and techniques for exploration tasks in varying levels of gravity ranging from that of asteroids to the gravity of Martian moons and Mars itself.
The NEEMO missions' rationale is based on the similarity of the undersea laboratory Aquarius' environment to that aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The habitat is similar in size to modules of the station. It provides a convincing analog to space exploration. Much like space, the undersea world is a hostile, alien place for humans to live. NEEMO crew members experience some of the same tasks and challenges underwater as they would in space including delays in their communications with the surface. Jeremy will be the fifth Canadian astronaut to be a crew member of a NEEMO mission.
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